BSP goes it alone in Left-ruled West Bengal

Kolkata, April 21 (IANS) The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), one of the formidable political forces that formed the Third Front along with Leftists at the centre, has not entered into any electoral tie-up with its allies in Left-ruled West Bengal. It will contest all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, BSP chief Mayawati said here at a political rally Tuesday.

“We’ve not gone into any political alliance with any of the national or state-level parties in West Bengal. We’ll contest alone in all the seats in the state so that our party (the BSP) could form the government at the centre this time,” said Mayawati.

The crowd sang songs in praise of the leader and raised hands when Mayawati offered a windshield-wiper wave to her supporters.

Urging the people not to cast their votes either for the Congress or Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the stout 53-year-old leader said none of the governments had paid any attention to the problems of the backward sections in the post-independence period.

“You have to ensure that the Congress or BJP do not get votes in the state if you really want to see the BSP forming the government at the centre.

“We’re not against any religion, caste or any political party. Our agenda is development for all if we come to power this time,” she said, sending the 2,000-odd-strong crowd into rapture.

Mayawati - who forged a Brahmin-Dalit alliance to become the Utar Pradesh chief minister for the fourth time in 2007 - arrived more than one and a half hour late at a political rally in the central part of Kolkata.

Though she did not name any political personality in her speech, Mayawati criticised Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the party’s general secretary Rahul Gandhi for their public show of empathy with the farmers and poverty-stricken people of the country.

“The curse of poverty will not be eradicated if we only go and chat with our rural backward classes or lift their children on our shoulders. We must do something for their social enlightenment.

“The Naxalite movement, which has emerged in the country, is a product of gross ignorance towards the rural communities. Our ruling parties are mainly responsible for this problem as they’d never addressed their (poor people’s) day-to-day issues,” she added.